The second will look at whether the culture and practice at the BBC enabled Savile to carry out sexual assaults, BBC News reports.

BBC director general George Entwistle stated today (October 12): "Jimmy Savile's victims have faced years of pain and we owe it to them and our audiences to understand how this happened and make sure nothing like it can happen again.

"I have one thing to repeat - that is a profound and heartfelt apology on behalf of the BBC to every victim. It is the victims, these women who were subject to criminal actions, who must be central in our thoughts.

"And it is the fundamentally criminal nature of many of these allegations that has made supporting the police my first priority. But the BBC will not avoid confronting the events of its past to understand what happened, and to try to ensure that nothing of this kind can happen ever again at the BBC. "

Entwistle announced that the two BBC inquires would be chaired by external experts, with their names to be announced next week.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We have been disturbed to hear these allegations. All staff past and present who have any information relating to allegations of this kind should raise them with the BBC's internal investigations unit or with the police directly."